The Labor enquirer., 1887-07-30

HOooSSoNN
considerable amount of land prove true,
it would not better matters one whit, for
the government could not possibly
make use of its landed acquisitions to re-
duce rents without destroying land values
and thus creating confusion worse con-
founded in the currency basis.
Fraternally, A. G. GRAUL.
A friend of mine took pains to send me
copy of the Chicago Express of the date
of March 10, 1887, directing my attention
especially to an article of three chapters
entitled "What Constitutes Money; How
to regulate Its Volume and Value" and
heading the several chapters he (ths writer)
asks: "What kind Of paper shall the
money be, how shall it be issued and what
shall regulate its volume and price so that
it shall be neither scarce nor abundants"
The writer then proceeds to give his
definition Of money. He says: "It is
simply legal quality, force or power; ex-
pressed, or represented on paper or metal
the better to be recognized and compre-
hended by the physical senses,' He goes
on to illustrate this by saying! "a score
of judgments may be entered upon as
many pages of a courts docket, varying
from 81 to $1,000. The intrinsic value of
each material page is the same, while the
value of each judgment depends upon the
amount rendered, and the ability of the
court to collect, or the responsibility of
the debtor to pay"
A simpler and clearer definition would
be: Money is certificate for value de-
livered, which certificate has received gen.
eral recognition, and which, therefore,
entities and secures to the holder reim
bursement to the extent of the same
amount of value. Such definition would
need no further illustration to make it in
telligible, it would at once be apparent
that the thing (piece of stamped paper or
metal) is not money but that money is
quality which is impaired to the thing by
common consent and universally recog
nized because it is advantageous to all to
do 80.
"Every dollar issued" he says, "must
represent actual value and must have full
legal tender spirit breathed into its body
of representative value"
A little further on he tells US how he
would issue such money: "If the business
of the country, as now, should require
more money than there is in circulation,
it should be issued to the parties requiring
it, in consideration of the deposit Of a
pledge, or collateral of ,tnquestionable value,
and of double the amount received" This
deposit he wants the government to hold
in trust for society that the "public may
know when it receives the money that it
represents actual value, and that the party
TO arhom 1t ,cas issued will redeem it," After
telling us of the faults Of the national
bank manner of issuing currency, he
finally tells us what it is that he considers
"pledge or collateral of unquestionable
value" he says the government should
take in security ''trust deeds or mortgages
on real productive property, the current
val,.e of which should be double the
amount loaned" This he would have done
at the lowest rate of interest which would
be warranted by the average increase of
production(!) and sufficient to defray the
expense of the bureau and yield the gov
ernment revenue. Why it should yield
the government a rerenue he does not e1-
plain further than that it should do so be-
cause it has the power to do it, and illus
trates it by referring to the manufacturing
firms royalty for an article which it has
the sole right to manufacture. He thinks
that this looks as much like e1tortion as
possible, but that is not all that is objec
tionable, as will be seen little further on
In his first chapter, in his efforts to ex
plain the nature and being of money, hs
quotes E. Peshine Smith as follows: II
is token issued by public authority, tina
the bearer has rendered certain amour